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LONDON
1849
TO
THE RIGHT REVEREND
CHARLES THOMAS,
LORD BISHOP OF RIPON,
THE INSTRUCTOR OF HIS EARLIER, AND THE
FRIEND OF HIS MATURER YEARS,
THESE NOTES ON THE
Cathedral Libraries of England
ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS
SINCERELY ATTACHED PUPIL
AND SERVANT,
BERIAH BOTFIELD.
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Preface.
The History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Churches of England have
been so often described, and so profusely illustrated that little remains
to be accomplished in that direction. But these descriptions are in many
instances ancillary to the illustrations, and while the minutest details
are given of the Church itself, little or no mention occurs of the
literary treasures contained within its precincts. The reason of this is
obvious. The Antiquarian would naturally dwell with complacency on those
stately fabrics which, thanks to the piety of earlier years, still adorn
the cities of our land. The Historian will recount with satisfaction
those venerable foundations by which the light of knowledge and the
blessings of religion were diffused in a less enlightened age than that
in which we have the happiness to live. Moreover these Collections,
though belonging to public bodies, are, strictly speaking, of a private
character, being of limited accessibility and restricted use.
The Library of the Dean and Chapter is chiefly available for the use of
the Clergy of the Cathedral Church, and under proper regulations becomes
a convenient place of study for the clerical student or the lettered
divine. The Libraries thus preserved have, as might be expected, great
similarity of character. They often combine in a peculiar manner the
learning of the middle ages, with the literature of a later date. Chiefly
embracing theological subjects, they contain no small amount of classical
lore, and a large proportion of historical research. Among much that is
obsolete there is more that is valuable, and amid much that is trifling
there is more that is important.
The contents of these Libraries have hitherto been known only to those
who have had access to their shelves, but thanks to the courtesy of those
entrusted with their custody, I have in every instance carefully perused
the Catalogue, and minutely examined every volume which I have ventured
to describe. This I have done at various times and different intervals,
occasionally revisiting the same Collection whenever the opportunity of
doing so occurred, but often hurried in my examination from unwillingness
to encroach upon the time or avocations of those to whose kindness I
have been indebted for the prosecution of these enquiries. No one can be
more sensible than myself of the imperfections and omissions of a work
compiled under such circumstances, and I shall feel deeply indebted to
any one who will undertake to correct the one or to supply the other.
None but those who have been accustomed to exact the most scrupulous
accuracy from themselves can rightly estimate the difficulty of its
attainment by others. Just as those who are most sensible of their own
deficiencies most readily make allowance for the failings of others.
“There is a philosophy in the aridity of Bibliography which few
bibliographers have discovered; there is a chronology of ideas as well as
facts, and the date of an opinion is far more interesting than any on the
Colophons.”[1]
This may be safely admitted, provided the date can be ascertained with
sufficient accuracy to render permanent the interest it may inspire.
But this it must be conceded is a point of no small difficulty, since
“opinions and feelings are long silently propagated before they can
assume the lasting form of published works.”
“Those revolutions in public opinion which are silently operating,
without yet manifesting any overt acts, can only be detected in those
histories of mankind which are furnished by themselves—Books! These are
the precursors or the recorders of whatever is passing in Europe.”[2]
Those who laudably endeavour to resuscitate the defunct literature of a
past age may best defend their pursuit in the language of the ingenious
and lamented Leyden. “However injudicious our ancient authors may be
reckoned in the selection of their materials, and the arrangement of
their topics; however defective in the arts of composition or polish of
style, they can never divest themselves of the manners and habits of
thinking familiar to the age in which they lived. It is this circumstance
which stamps a real value on the rudest compositions of an early period;
a value which continually increases with their antiquity.”
If the true test of the value of a book be, where can you learn what
it will teach you? and if the answer be nowhere, then we may safely
concede both merit and value. Such I am far from presuming to be the
characteristic of the present work; but assuredly no where else can be
found any collected account of the Ecclesiastical Libraries, attached to
the Cathedrals of England, and forming not the least interesting portion
of their several Capitular possessions.
The Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in possession of the Dean and Chapter of
Rochester, Exeter, Wells, Lichfield, Durham, Worcester, Westminster,
are enumerated in the third volume of Hickes’ Thesaurus, entitled
Antiquæ Litteraturæ Septentrionalis liber alter, seu Humphredi Wanleii
Librorum Vett. Septentrionalium, qui in Angliæ Bibliothecis extant,
necnon multorum Vett. Codd. Septentrionalium alibi extantium Catalogus
Historico-Criticus, Oxonii, 1705, folio.
In the same author’s Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ
in unum collecti, &c. Oxoniæ, 1698, folio, we find Catalogues of the
Manuscripts preserved in the Chapter Houses of York, Durham, Carlisle,
Worcester, Salisbury, Westminster, Winchester, Lichfield, Hereford,
Exeter, and Canterbury, affording abundant evidence of the diligence and
accuracy of Humphrey Wanley.
In Clarke’s Repertorium Bibliographicum there is some account of the
most celebrated British Libraries, London, 1819, 8vo. including Notices
of the Archiepiscopal Library, Lambeth Palace, the Cathedral Library of
Canterbury, the Christ Church Library at Oxford, and the Manuscripts in
the Chapter House at Westminster.
I have purposely omitted from this Work all mention of the Parochial
Libraries of England, such as those of Wimborne Minster in
Dorsetshire; Halifax in Yorkshire; Castleton in Derbyshire; Langley
in Buckinghamshire; Tong and Whitchurch in Shropshire. The latter in
particular is a beautiful Library, purchased by a former Countess of
Bridgewater from one of the Prestons, and left as an heirloom to the
living. The late Francis Henry, Earl of Bridgewater, left all his books
in augmentation of this Library, and also bequeathed several sums
of money for founding other Libraries of a similar kind at Middle,
Ellesmere, and other places. I have reluctantly excluded the Library
at Bamborough Castle, in Northumberland, so interesting as containing
a vellum copy of the Book of Troy, by Pynson; as well as the Libraries
of Sion College; Archbishop Tenison’s; the Dissenters, in Red Cross
Street; and the Baptist Museum, at Bristol. To go beyond these would be
to describe the Libraries of the British Museum; the London and Royal
Institutions, the London Library, and those of the different learned and
Scientific Societies, and of the Clubs of London. All these are foreign
to my purpose, which embraces only Libraries of a strictly ecclesiastical
character. I have introduced the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth as
belonging to the Primate, and the Library of the Dean and Chapter of
St. George’s, at Windsor, as appertaining to the Sovereign Head of the
English Church.
I have chosen to designate these Collections as Cathedral Libraries,
because with the above exception, the only Capitular Library described
in this volume which is not at present in connection with a See, is the
venerable foundation of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. This from
its connection with the ancient Palace of Westminster must always be
regarded as classic ground in the History and Antiquities of England.
I have added no index to this book, because the work itself is little
more than an index to the contents of the Collections which it professes
to describe, and a mere repetition of proper names would have added to
the bulk without increasing the utility of the volume. Hasty as these
notes may have been, and confessedly imperfect as they are, they may
yet serve to excite if not to satisfy the awakened interest in the
Curiosities of English Literature.
“Without doubt,” says Richard de Bury in his Philobiblon, translated
by Inglis, quoting Seneca in his Epistles, “Leisure without letters is
death, and the Sepulture of the living man;” so we justly conclude from a
converse meaning, “that to be employed with Literature and Books is life.”
_Norton Hall_, 5 March, 1849.